


Time Wind

by Annariel



Series: Anomalies of S.H.I.E.L.D. [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Primeval
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 19:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9199430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annariel/pseuds/Annariel
Summary: Hawkeye and Black Widow are hunting down a renegade scientist who can open anomalies in time.  Unsurprisingly this brings them into contact with the Anomaly Team.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knitekat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitekat/gifts).



> I've had to fudge time-lines so that the first season of Primeval can be assumed to be contemporaneous to the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
> 
> Oh and this is a universe in which no Primeval characters die or vanish into time.
> 
> Thanks to fififolle for beta-reading.

"Hopefully we can count that as a job well done," Ryan remarked as the last of the Triceratops' walked back through the anomaly.

"Unless something else wanders out of it," Stephen said with a rueful smile.

Ryan smiled back at him. It had been a busy but not too exciting day and he was looking forward to getting his lover back home for a well-deserved steak supper. There was still a chance something would come out of the anomaly, but there probably wasn't much left close to it apart from the Triceratops herd and he had hopes that they wouldn't be coming back through again. He glanced at his watch. The anomaly had been open about six hours and, in his experience, few stayed open much longer than that.

"I think we can take it from here!"

Ryan looked to his right in surprise. A car had pulled up at the kerb and a couple whose every movement screamed special ops had stepped out. Both wore tight-fitting black combat suits. He, rather improbably, had a bow strapped to his back while she had a bright head of red hair and two pistols prominently displayed in thigh holsters. They were instantly recognisable.

"What interest do the Avengers have in this situation?" Ryan asked.

The legal status of the Avengers to operate in various jurisdictions was unclear, though the current standing orders within the military were to treat them with polite respect and provide assistance upon request.

"We believe a person of interest is responsible for this anomaly of yours," Hawkeye said.

Black Widow, rather ostentatiously handed Ryan a tablet. The document on it was short and to the point, contained the correct keywords and signatures. It told him that the two Avengers were pursuing a woman known as "Time Wind", that she was believed to be capable of opening anomalies and that they were to render all assistance.

Ryan silently passed the tablet to Stephen and looked around. The rest of the Special Forces soldiers were paying careful attention.

"Presumably you believe this `Time Wind' opened this particular anomaly. Any idea why?"

"The anomalies opened by her devices have a very distinctive signature."

Ryan quietly filed away the information that either the Avengers or someone they worked with was monitoring open anomalies somehow. There was almost certainly no point pressing for more information, but Lester would want to know.

The anomaly gave a slight pulse that was instantly recognisable to the ARC team.

"Incoming!" Fiver said, his gun already raised.

Within moments everyone's weapon was pointed at the anomaly, including Hawkeye's bow and Widow's pistols.

"If it's an animal let us handle it it," Stephen said quietly.

Hawkeye glanced in his direction but said nothing, neither acknowledging nor refuting the request.

A woman stepped through the anomaly. She was strikingly tall with long brown hair caught up into a loose bun. She was wearing the tight-fitting black combats with what Ryan recognised as a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the shoulder. The woman registered her surroundings, even as Hawkeye and Black Widow both fired. The woman threw herself backwards through the anomaly. Hawkeye cursed. All things considered, Ryan thought, she probably wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, clothes not withstanding. Of course, that didn't mean she hadn't worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past which could explain why the Avengers were so interested.

Black Widow was already sprinting towards the shards of light. "Wait!" Ryan shouted, but she had already dived through it with Hawkeye close on her heels. Ryan swore and chased after them.

"Everyone else wait here!" he ordered.

"You didn't need to follow us," Hawkeye said as Ryan emerged on the other side of the anomaly into the middle of what appeared to be a coniferous forest.

"How much do you know about the Cretaceous?" Ryan asked.

"How much do you?" Widow countered.

"Not a lot, but enough to get by. Watch out for T. Rex's. That kind of thing."

The anomaly pulsed and then closed behind them. Ryan swore. Black Widow raised an amused eyebrow.

"Now we really have to find our fugitive," Hawkeye said.

Ryan wished Stephen were with them. He was a superb and efficient tracker. He sighed and scanned the dry forest floor for signs of human footsteps. A large swathe of flattened undergrowth demonstrated clearly where the Triceratops herd had passed.

"This way," Widow said, setting off into the woods, in the opposite direction to the Triceratops trail.

"You're a tracker?" Ryan asked.

"Among other things."

Hawkeye glanced quickly about them and then began climbing one of the trees. Ryan followed Widow, moving as quietly as she could as she tracked their renegade scientist through the undergrowth. He couldn't hear Hawkeye up in the trees, but had no doubt the man was following them. He hoped Time Wind hadn't already opened a second anomaly and escaped.

The quiet sound of cursing up ahead, told them they were on the right track. Ryan and Widow quickened their paces and moments later burst through the undergrowth into a slight clearing. Time Wind was standing over two small dome-headed bipedal dinosaurs which were nipping at her ankles while she was clutching a small white control unit in her hands. She swore again as they approached and grappled with the unit, stabbing at a touch screen and clearly trying to ignore the dinosaurs. An anomaly suddenly opened up at the far end of the clearing. Ryan threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired a dart, just as Widow shot some kind of electric charge from the thick bracelets at her wrists. Time Wind went down and the anomaly quietly closed again as the device skidded from her hands. There was a moment's pause and then the two small dinosaurs vanished into the undergrowth.

Ryan paused by Time Wind to check her pulse, before pulling the antidote to the tranquilliser out of one of his pockets. He stabbed the syringe into the woman's thigh. He looked at the prone form critically.

"She should come out of the tranquilliser pretty quickly. I don't know about whatever you did to her."

"Minor electric charge. She'll recover from that soon as well."

Ryan nodded.

There was a slight movement off to one side. To Ryan's ears the forest seemed to have become quieter which put him on the alert that there was a predator nearby. Black Widow paused as well, glanced at him and then, clearly taking her cue from his alertness also started scanning the undergrowth. She tossed Ryan a pair of handcuffs almost absent-mindedly while scanning the trees.

Ryan bit back a complaint that he wasn't her lackey and quickly cuffed Time Wind's hands behind her back. He picked up her control unit, while he was about it and clipped it to his belt.

There was definite movement around them now, coming from all sides. A flash of green iridescent feathers confirmed Ryan's fears. It looked like they had been found by a raptor pack. He raised his tranquilliser just as one of the creatures broke cover and charged towards them. A second almost instantly appeared from the opposite side of the clearing.

Ryan shot at the one in front of him. He heard the distinctive whistle of an arrow and a thud somewhere behind him. A second broke cover and he shot that one, ignoring the one that was still bearing down on him. There was a whine and an arc of electricity. Black Widow had used her wrist devices once again.

Ryan slung his tranquilliser rifle over his shoulder as more raptors came out of the trees. It was too slow to reload and the drug's action was slow as well. They were going to have to take their chance with more lethal weaponry. He switched to his pistol, took up a firm position and began firing. He felt Black Widow's shoulders back up against his so that between them they covered the full circle of the clearing. She had switched to guns as well and he could hear the rounds clicking through the chambers and then the brief pause as she changed magazine. Up above them somewhere, Hawkeye continued to loose arrows.

The battle was brief but bloody, barely five minutes later the remains of the raptor pack gave up and retreated into the trees, leaving a dozen or so bodies behind them. Both Ryan and Widow paused, on alert for any stragglers or a second attack. A cough from Time Wind alerted them to the fact that she was coming around.

Hawkeye dropped down from the trees and strolled towards them across the clearing. Ryan unhooked the control device from his belt.

"Do we have any idea how this works?"

Widow shrugged and looked at it. It contained several knobs, dials and readouts but none were self-explanatory. Widow hauled Time Wind to her feet fairly roughly.

"Twenty-First century?" she asked.

Time Wind raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Come on," said Hawkeye. "This soldier here has a boyfriend to get back to."

Ryan looked at him in surprise, Hawkeye shrugged. "I'm very observant."

"... and he read up on you before we arrived," Widow added.

Hawkeye gave Time Wind a shake. "So get on with it."

"I suggest you do as he says. Losing someone you love is a bit of a sore point with him right now."

Widow's voice was so completely deadpan and flat that Ryan struggled to work out whether she was making it up or not. But Hawkeye's jaw tightened and he gave Time Wind another shake. It was an act, but with a grain of truth all the same, Ryan decided. This kind of interrogation often worked better that way.

Ryan somewhat ostentatiously checked his pistol before chipping in. "He looks pretty serious. Probably wise to do what he wants."

"The location is the last pre-set. Just turn the dial back a notch and then press the big button in the middle," Time Wind said sulkily.

Widow gave the woman a searching look, clearly decided she was telling the truth, turned the dial and hit the relevant button. An anomaly opened.

"Only one way to find out where it leads, I suppose," Ryan said.

He took a deep breath and stepped through it. He was immediately greeted by the sight of a relieved grin from Stephen and the view of a ring of Special Forces soldiers all relaxing. Ryan nodded at them and stepped quickly back through the anomaly.

"All clear," he said.

"Good, time to get this particular mad scientist into the Fridge," Hawkeye said.


End file.
